Reviews - Gay the Pray Away

913 reviews for:

Gay the Pray Away

Natalie Naudus

4.32 AVERAGE

smutfully_yours's review

5.0

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

🌟Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

💧Drip-o-Meter: 💦

💗Something I Loved: The entirety of this story obviously but especially the underlying message of how important representation and access to information is. Valerie stumbling upon a copy of One Last Stop completely changed the trajectory of her life, not only teaching her new words like bisexual/pansexual, but opening her eyes to her own queerness and the different path her life could take. Books change lives and Valerie’s story was the perfect example of this… and knowing the authors experience was so similar (although later in life) made it that much more special.

🫤Something I Would Have Changed: Nothing about the book… everything about people who actually believe the things her family and church were preaching.

🥰Favorite Moment: The two carefree days Val and Riley spend alone together, getting to know each other and falling in love, instead of attending the cult conference. I often felt viscerally miserable for Valerie and her stolen childhood but these chapters made my heart ache with joy for her and their budding young love.

🌶️Spiciest Scene: This is YA so although they share kisses (and a shower), along with some brief mentions of touching, there is no “spice.” And it’s fine. Trust me… you truly won’t miss it.

📚Standalone vs. Series: Standalone

📖Would I Recommend: Absolutely. And more specifically, I’d recommend listening on audio as it’s read by the author herself, none other than the incomparable @natalienaudus. I normally wouldn’t pick up a book that centered around religion but the snippets Natalie’s shared about her religious background made me curious and I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone with this book. It wasn’t always an easy read, and I was often brimming with rage and disgust, but it was important, a perspective not often written about in romance but one that we need to remember exists for too many. Despite the difficult subject matter, this story is optimistic, one full of hope, of fighting back against what you know is wrong, and of having the strength to be true to yourself even when—especially when—it’s scary and hard. It was eye opening, beautifully written, and unsurprisingly, exquisitely narrated. 10/10 would recommend.

💬Tropes: Religious Trauma, Queer Awakening, Forbidden Romance, BIPOC Rep, Friends to Lovers, Coming of Age

metschannen's review

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

julie_kristine's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This story follows Valerie, a 17-year-old girl who's been brought up in a religious cult, but always felt like a liar, a fraud, an outsider that there's something wrong with, until she discovers a forbidden book that she smuggles out of the library, which helps open her eyes to the world the cult doesn't want her to see.

This book takes us on a journey with Valerie as she discovers who she is and the possibilities of life over the course of a few months. The story is told from her POV, and we get to meet her family, friends and acquaintances she's grown up with, and of course the new, cool girl in town: Riley. I really enjoyed Valerie's journey and Riley as a character, and the ways they found to be together when they could. There are also a few side characters that really helped enhance the story, including a friendly librarian, a family on the next block over, and a neighbour down the street who unknowingly helps Valerie when she needs it the most.

As the blurb on the back of the book says, this story is perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Becky Albertalli. It's a little tense, but there's lots of good in it and a very lovely happy ending for our two heroines! It left me hopeful for their future, as the skeleton of a found family is building around them and they're starting to live their lives in the world outside of the religious constraints of the community they, especially Valerie, never knew she could escape from.

A thoroughly enjoyable read that anyone who's a fan of queer YA literature would enjoy!

Thank you NetGalley and Quirk Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings